Indians lead tourist rush to Thailand as arrivals top 2 million

Indians and Malaysians are leading a tourist rush to Thailand after it relaxed entry rules, with total arrivals topping 2 million since the start of the year and providing a fillip to the Southeast Asian nation’s sluggish economy.
Foreign tourist arrivals totaled 2.03 million between January 1 and June 26, deputy government spokeswoman Traisuree Taisaranakul said in a statement on Monday. Travelers from India, Malaysia, the UK, Singapore and the US topped the list, she said.
Thailand’s tourism industry, which was nearly decimated during the pandemic, expects average monthly arrivals to surge to about 1.5 million with the country scrapping a pre-travel registration and mandatory medical insurance from July 1.
Southeast Asia’s second-largest economy has rolled back most of the pandemic-era curbs on travel…